Ireland V Cyprus

GuanYin

What is Traps problem with Reid does anyone know.

At least his version of his problem as opposed to what everyone is supposing.;

CiaranC

super_furry wrote: »

Shamrock Rovers v St Pat's for me.

€75 for an Ireland v Cyprus ticket is a rip-off. No way I'd pay it.

Was offered one today for the 'bargain' price of 60 notes. No chance.

See you in Tolka. I dont think they have free EA Sports inflatable hands on Saturday, dunno how we'll cope.

_blank_

GuanYin wrote: »

What is Traps problem with Reid does anyone know.

At least his version of his problem as opposed to what everyone is supposing.;

Who says there's a problem> It's all media speculation.

Maybe Trap just doesn't see room for Reid in his system. A system which has so far garnered 7 points from 9, including two tough away fixtures.

Nalz

estebancambias wrote: »

Delighted with the result, but thats where the elation stops.

The midfield selection was plain wrong.

Yep. I agree. Was at this game tonight.

Dunne and O Shea were good, McShane was error prone and Kilbane was constantly ball watching and off the pace. Duff, McGeady, Doyle and Keane poised a threat...all four working hard off the ball especially Doyle. Well deserved the MOTM.

The centre midfield and fullbacks is were we wer very weak tonight. Whelan was terrible. He'd win a tackle then take ages to distribute the ball or get up from the ground, his mate beside looked better on the ball but never looked for it. Both Reids have to play the next game. I was calling for Liam Miller, yes Liam Miller to come on!

Things need to improve big time if we are to beat Montenegro and Bulgaria at home, and not to lose to Cyprus away and Italy at home. I have my doubts - major doubts.

How can whoevers in charge not see this if 55,000 in croker plus the rest of the nation can?

Soby

newballsplease wrote: »

Ok so can anyone tell me, since we havent seen 1 minute of A.Reid in this qualification group.....
Is he ever going to feature? is he traps secret weapon for the bulgarians and italians?? i doubt it..

Well they ways its gone so far.If you dont start the match odds are you arent getting on.Doyle coming off tonight seem to be just winding the clock down.

GuanYin

Des wrote: »

Who says there's a problem> It's all media speculation.

Maybe Trap just doesn't see room for Reid in his system. A system which has so far garnered 7 points from 9, including two tough away fixtures.

Well I meant a problem in terms of Reid's style of play.

Obviously he thinks his style or skill isn't good enough for the football they play.

Can anyone explain it as a footballing decision?

In terms of quality of passing and ability to hold the ball and general skill, I haven't seen Whelan match Reid in any game. I've never seen Gibson play.

Also, thereis a premiership player with a really long throw-in who is Irish. I think he's a midfielder, why hasn't he played.

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GuanYin wrote: »

Also, thereis a premiership player with a really long throw-in who is Irish. I think he's a midfielder, why hasn't he played.

Rory Delap.

He doesn't make the squad, because it isn't American Football where you can just stick lads on depending on if you are attacking or defending.

Charlie

Des wrote: »

Given - Excellent 8

McShane - Shíte, 4
O'Shea - Good 6
Dunne - Captain's performance 8
Kilbane - Weak at times 5

McGeady - Brutal end product 6
Duff - Looked sharp, a LOT of tracking back too, 8
Whelan - better of a bad pairing, 5
Gibson - anonymous throughout, 4

Keane - scored, not much else, 6
Doyle - bleedin' fantastic night for him, 10

When Finnan is back, McShane won't get a look in.

We need a midfield general, badly, because S. Reid isn't going to be fit for 60% of games.

A. Reid should have appeared for Gibson.

Spoken like a true Ole Ole-er.

eirebhoy

Still though, "brutal end product" for the player that set up most of our chances isn't bad. Over the 3 games his final ball has gone to an opposing player a lot more than it has an Irish player but over the 3 games he's still set up more clear cut chances than probably the rest of the players combined.

leninbenjamin

GuanYin wrote: »

Well I meant a problem in terms of Reid's style of play.

Obviously he thinks his style or skill isn't good enough for the football they play.

Can anyone explain it as a footballing decision?

yes, and it's pretty damn obvious one to me, although not necessarily one I agree with. Trappa's playing two holding midfielders, with little opportunity for either to get in the box due to the freedom given to the wingers. Reid is best in the final third, but doesn't have the legs or athleticism to make him a proper CM. Trappa has said before (iirc, in one of his first press conferences) that he views Reid as the more traditional Italian number 10 as opposed to a CM. either way, you could not have played Reid in the system we used tonight. simple as. he doesn't have the positioning, the physicality, or the fitness.

Boggles

leninbenjamin wrote: »

you could not have played Reid in the system we used tonight. simple as. he doesn't have the positioning, the physicality, or the fitness.

We basically played 4-2-2, I don't care if Reid never crossed into his own half he couldn't have been worse than the deadwood we had corpsing around the midfield.

Actually think I got to the bottom of the Reid not being picked mystery. From his wiki page.

Reid believes that ex-Republic of Ireland manager, Steve Staunton, should not have been sacked, the midfielder explained, "I do not believe they should have done it. I believe he should have been given more time".

Mental problems.:eek:

Het-Field

nuxxx wrote: »

shocking performance overall imo
Duff did great and Doyle is really turning into a top top attacker.

The RTE panel were on the ball about our midfield centre partnership. they were totally non existent.
I switched over to sky sports news during the add and heard tony cascarino talk about our strenght was our middle two players, what a load of b0llocks.

Cyprus deserved to at least draw tonight.

Without Stephen Reid glen whelan was really shown up tonight. Can anyone remember him touching the ball?

Dunne outstanding, absolutly brilliant. Without him tonight we wouldnt have won for sure, either him or doyle were MOTM.

Duff excellent, mcgeady played ok but thats now 2 games hes had really good chances and missed them.

Mcshane almost cost up the game , and was CONSTANTLY out of position. Kibane had a ok game.

Overall was a good result and were in a good position but we really need to fix our centre midfield. My preference is stephen ireland and reid but im guessing that will never happen.

Next game will be interesting

I think the Cypriots got what they deserved...nothing. They dominated the second half, and they couldnt make anything out of their two chances. Ireland had four second half chances, and they were far more clearcut

On the other hand, we should have stuck two or three away. The scoreline flatterd Cyprus. The fact of the matter was the game was boring, very very boring. Furthermore, the less then dominant midfield (of two players who are in their respective reserve teams) will not be our regular midfield. However, they are a midfield with 8 caps between them who reduced a team who competed against better Irish centre mids, and got far more out of them.

Trappatoni played the game the way I expected. We have just beaten a side who beat and drew with us in the last two years, scoring 6 goals in the process. Who cares how we play ? This time last competition, we had garnered a solitary point, we now have 7 and are miles ahead of Bulgaria.

Its in Ireland's hands now, and while I would like to see an improvement, to slate the performance tonight would be rubbish.

Shay Given 8
Paul McShane 6
Kevin Kilbane 7
John O Shea 8
Richard Dunne 8
Aiden McGeady 6
Darren Gibson 5
Glenn Whelan 5
Damien Duff 8
Robbie Keane 7
Kevin Doyle 9

Het-Field

zAbbo wrote: »

Just back from the game, and I have to say I enjoyed it, good interesting game.

But the real downer for me was some of our disgraceful fans, swearing, impatient and downright moronic.

Why some people feel the need to constantly berate the players on more or less every decesion they made which was extremely disappointed.

Yes, someone should have passed quicker, or shot when they passed, or crossed in low/high - some of our fans can't get behind players and encourage the team.

I'm just contrasting this with any rugby game I've been with, where a mistake will get a collective groan, but followed by a 'Cmon', 'Hard Luck' or 'Next Time' and not 'For Fawk Saaake XXX ya useless cnut'

I'm sure we can all appreciate that with higher quality players, the easier the game is, and we certainly don't have a bunch of world beaters in our team, evident by two reserve players playing centre midfield.

On the performances, I thought Doyle was superb, closed down and chased everything, while winning more than his share in the air.

Duff looked back to his best, easily our best threat on the ball, looked jaded near the end - but it's good to just see Duff looking hungry and taking on full backs.

McGeady is a real talent, looks much more focused under Trap, obviously needs to improve his decision making and final ball, but was a threat all game.

Dunne was superb, without him at CB - we certainly would have conceded tonight, put his body on the line and commanded the defence really well. Just watching him makes you appreciate how good of a defender he is.

McShane, for someone who's the butt of most jokes, he's not that bad a player, some lapses in judgement - but he done the job tonight. Sure he's not Paulo Maldini. What he might lack in full back skills, he made up in effort. Out of position - but done alright.

Overall, things are looking positive, just because we punched above our weight before, doesn't mean we're not humble enough to take a 1-0 win over Cyprus and move onto the next game. The team obviously have much more focus under Trap, 6 defensive players, and 4 attacking players - again nothing was run through our CM, with Duff and McGeady the main attacking channels.

I'd be happy with that, hold our own at the back and CM - and hit them with the qualities we have out wide and up front, might not be pretty but at least it's not losing 5-2.

Just a quick scan through some of the posts here, and it's easy to mock players (fun too), but please give alternatives - and consider how they'll fit in with Trappers game plan.

Job done, 3 points, next.

As another who was at the game, I believe this is the most rational and reasonable post I have seen all thread

Fanny Cradock

I've been very encouraged by the progress the team has made under Trap to date. But I'm less so after tonight.

I don't quite share Dumphy's pant wetting hysteria, but I was concerned that Trap didn't change something that clearly wasn't working. The two CMs (in particular Gibson), McShane and Keane (apart from the goal) were just crap tonight. IMO, Gibson should have gone after the 50th minute.

I support Traps reign, but I'm beginning to wonder if he is a tad inflexible when it comes to making changes.

stovelid

GuanYin wrote: »

What is Traps problem with Reid does anyone know.

At least his version of his problem as opposed to what everyone is supposing.;

Think it's straightforward enough. Trapp has evaluated Ireland as a technically limited team, and feels that we have to adhere to a system that doesn't include a luxury midfield player like Reid. Reid is obviously unhappy. Obviously that's not gospel but it would certainly seem like the most plausible reason. That said, went to the game tonight and thought the game passed Gibson and Whelan by. Thought we could have done with somebody to take the reins in midfield and look for and use the ball.

Het-Field

eirebhoy wrote: »

Anyone who backs Trap and critisises Kerr is a hypocrite imo.

Kerr threw away two leads against an ordinary Israel side. He was also devoid of ideas when Switzerland came to town, and when France got the goal which sent us out, we had nothing to retort with. Furthermore, Trappatoni has far more muck to deal with then Kerr.

Remember Kerr had Given, Carr, O Shea, Cunningham, Dunne, Finnan,Roy Keane, Kilbane, RobbieKeane, Morrison, Duff in his starting eleven, with Paddy Kenny, Andy O Brien, Joey O Brien, Andy Reid, Matty Holland, Stephan Reid, Stephan Elliott.

Kerr had far better players to deal with, and were never so threadbare as to put two rookies in centre mid

JimiTime

We looked an extremely organised unit, as we've done in the 1st 2 games. Wasted our set plays at a shocking rate though. Because of our centre mid setup, we were pretty one dimensional going forward, i.e. theres nothing attacking in the middle. When the wingers cut inside, it usually endedup going backwards, on many ocasions back to the keeper.

definately plenty of positives. We look sturdy at the back (bar mcshane, but he was standing in). I think the holding midfielders, while not getting on the ball, were very affective in spoiling things for the Cypriots. I still think that Andy Reid would be a better option though. We could have easily conceeded a late goal. One nil is never safe.

The big test will be when we play the better sides. We have struggled to break down 3 relatively poor sides. We were let off the hook by the fact Cyprus were missing 5 of their best players to injury and suspension also. i am confident in what Trapatoni has done, but I wonder if his stubborn belief in his system will be our undoing in the end. I hope not. I'm confident in the manager, and the difference in the team is clear, but the Jury is still out untill i see us challenge the better sides.

Given 8 Didn't have alot to do, but was flawless when needed.
McShane 6 Shaky. Clearly not a full back. looked nervy.
Kilbane 7 Fairly uninspiring, but did the job. Nearly got caught out in 1st half.
Dunne 9 Immense!
O'Shea 8 Composed. i think he gains most from traps 2 DM system.
Whelan 6 Never really got on the ball. But done the defensive Job.
Gibson 5 Again, didn't get on the ball. Looked a bit nervy. Did a job though.
Duff 8 Flashes of old Duffer.
McGeady 7 End product needs to improve.
Keane 7 Didn't do much, but worked hard.
Doyle 9 Looking like a great prospect. Confidence high. Worked his @rse off, and showed some skillfull moments too.

stovelid

CiaranC wrote: »

I dont think they have free EA Sports inflatable hands on Saturday, dunno how we'll cope.

Went to the game myself tonight. Croker was indeed a place of Italia-90-level inflatibility.

CiaranC

JimiTime wrote: »

We looked an extremely organised unit

I stopped reading right there, what game were you watching?

tetsujin1979

Given was excellent when called upon, which was twice. The mark of a good keeper is having nothing to do for large parts of the game, and still keep up his concentration levels. Hope he gets the night off against Poland, he deserves it.

I felt the 2 full backs were the weak links, McShane moreso than Kilbane, but only because Kilbane wasn't as exposed. Constantly in the first half he was drifting into centre (which I've posted about before) and giving space to the opposing left winger. McShane was making the same mistake, drifting away from the touchline and giving the opposing winger space to move into.

Of the two central defenders, Dunne was imperious, clearances, marking, keeping possession, absolute masterclass. Another one. This was the worst O'Shea has played under Trapattoni at centre half, but still far ahead of anything he's done before this. He created problems for himself, and the rest of the defence with some poor clearances, including headers that went straight up in the air, instead of straight up the pitch!

Genuinely didn't think the centre of midfield was as poor as some here have said. Against Cyprus 2 years ago, Kilbane and Ireland didn't make a tackle and left the 2 central defenders (O'Brien and Dunne) completely isolated. Tonight, Whelan and Gibson protected the centre of defence, and gave the wingers an option when they needed someone to pass to. I didn't see Cyprus making any kind of progress through the middle of the park at all, their shots came from bad clearances, and all their creativity was on the wings.

Duff was the better of the two wingers, although McGeady had the better chances to score. Both gave their fullbacks a terrible time, and the switch before half time obviously caused confusion. McGeady had the better chances to score, and Duff could have ended it late on. After all the talk of set pieces over the last week, I thought that some of deliveries to the near post were poor, and Dunne was the clear target man at the far post. With a little more luck he could have had two goals. Surprised Sparky never taught him how to volley correctly! Duff linked better with Kilbane than McGeady did with McShane, although I'd blame the full back there rather than McGeady. Other than Lawrence, and possibly Keogh, I don't see who else can come into the side for McGeady, so I think he'll continue on the right for the forseeable future.

Up front, Keane scored early on, and Doyle should have had at least one. Both worked the Cypriot defence very hard, and forcing them into making mistakes. Keane dropped deep a lot in the first half, and may have just been exhausted in the second half.
Folan came on to win the ball from a kick out. Which he did. Probably the shortest debut since Jason Byrne!

The lack of substitutes was puzzling, some players were clearly out on their feet, and Cyprus used all 3 of their substitutes, so they were playing against fresh legs. On the other hand, bringing on players could have lost us the game. We can definitely say that not bringing on more won it.

One of the lads made the point after the game that we've played a very similar type of game for 3 games now, defensively solid and in the middle of the park, creative on the wings and effective up front. We won't need to change that gameplan for tougher teams. We could have beaten Cyprus by being more attacking or free flowing tonight, but teams like Italy and Bulgaria won't allow us to be as attack minded, so by keeping to the same gameplan tonight, the team will know what to do when faced with a stronger side instead of panicing when we're not given the same space. It's an interesting thought, did beating the likes of Canada, San Marino and the Faroes playing an attacking brand of football mean we didn't know what to do when faced with stronger opposition like France or Germany?
Actually he said it a whole lot better than that, but I felt it deserved to be mentioned.

death1234567

We played with two central midfielders who play reserve team football, says it all. Farce.

BaZmO*

death1234567 wrote: »

We played with two central midfielders who play reserve team football, says it all. Farce.

Winning a match 1-0 and getting 3 points is a farce? Eh, I think you'll find getting beat 5-2 by Cyprus is more of a farce!

thusspakeblixa

Was at the match.
Wasn't a bad performance, could have scored more but 3 points is 3 points.
...McShane was absolute bollix, and McGeady, while showing flashes of brilliance, kept giving the ball away.
Also, I'd be worried about that left-back position.

Nalz

Why are people giving Kilbane 7 out of 10. He was nearly as bad as McShane... just cause he didnt do the obvious mistakes as diving in and poor long balls. He constantly left his man in space, ball watched, never got forward (though I've a suspision he was told to do that). If McShane gets a 4 or a 5, Kilbane gets a 5 or a 6 in my book.

Doyle was excellent, Robbie Keane grafted but lacked pace.
McGeady is a talented young fella who needs to learn when to release a ball and practise his disribution and Crosses.
Gibson was ordinary, he'll never make it in a top 10 premiership team let alone Manchester United.
Whelan was worse - slow, wrong decisions made constantly. Never looked for the ball and never dropped deap or into space to recieve it.
O Shea and Dunne very good. Didnt put a foot wrong in my opinion.
Duff was brilliant, apart from the ocassional moment where he let the full back advance foward a bit too far.

Given 8
McShane 4.5
Dunne 8.5
O Shea 8
Kilbane 5.5
McGeady 6.5
Gibson 6
Whelan 5
Duff 8
Doyle 9.5
Keane 7.5

_blank_

One thing that struck me.

The defence and midfield at least tried to pass it around, and not just hoof it and hoping. Ireland had much better ball retention last night, among the defence, than I've seen for a long time. This leads to a more patient build up, trying to pass to feet and get moves going in a proper manner.

Now, there was also a LOT of punting the ball to Doyle (who was absolutely immense with his ball winning, I don't think he was beaten to any more than 10% of balls played to his head or chestal area).

Dolph Starbeam

Des wrote: »

One thing that struck me.

The defence and midfield at least tried to pass it around, and not just hoof it and hoping. Ireland had much better ball retention last night, among the defence, than I've seen for a long time. This leads to a more patient build up, trying to pass to feet and get moves going in a proper manner.

Yes thats true, which brings up the same question again why is Andy Reid not there, if we're not good technically Trap should be just telling them to hoof it up

zAbbo

Andy Reid is not the messiah

_blank_

zAbbo wrote: »

Andy Reid is not the messiah

He's a very naughty boy.

_blank_

I can't believe there are people being more negative than me about that performance.

event

some people here astound me.

we played ok last night, nothing great, but not awful either. We defended very well, got stuck in and they had one real chance that they created themselves, the one given saved came from our mistake, so they never really carved us open. We had the goal, doyles effort, the near header that was cleared off the line and duffs chance at teh end.

the midfield was poor, but we were missing our best midfielder. people will go on about andy reid, but trap isnt going to play him. End of story, he prefers two holding midfielders and two wingers. Reid is neither. if he plays, i reckon it will be off the front man, behind doyle if keane doesnt play. And did i miss something, or did andy reid become pele overnight? the way people are going on about him, you'd swear he was unbelievable, not a player who has yet to score or set up a goal in the PL this year.

we should be cheering the lads and manager on, 7 from 9 is a good points tally.

Dolph Starbeam

In fairness event alot of what you said is right, we're not trying to say Reid is Pele, we are simply pointing out that Reid is about 10 times better than Gibson and Whealan, and i think after watching last night game anyone would be a fool to disagree. He is obviously a different style of player but surely Trap should have changed things a little other than play those 2 in the centre.

Hank Scorpio

MOG7 wrote: »

In fairness event alot of what you said is right, we're not trying to say Reid is Pele, we are simply pointing out that Reid is about 10 times better than Gibson and Whealan, and i think after watching last night game anyone would be a fool to disagree. He is obviously a different style of player but surely Trap should have changed things a little other than play those 2 in the centre.

Totally on the ball here with this comment imo.
Whealan and Gibson were non existent last night.
Remember whealan near the end picked up the ball with basically a open goal,
hesitated then passed the ball onto duffer for a tough angle.

Reid hasnt even been brought on a sub in this campaign, such a waste of talent. Yes hes not the fittest but even if he played 70 minutes of game he wud contribute so much more than whealan
Stephen reid made whealan look good

event

well yeah, he'd better than those two players, but they are different styles. i think trap has decided on a system and will put the correct type of players in their positions. it is not time to judge him now (even though we have 7 from 9) but at teh end of the campaign, to see how it goes. and while gibson wasnt great, it was his debut so people shouldnt write him off yet.
i think if a change was to be made it should have been joey o brien in the midfield, he could have made a difference. Why has there not been a clamour for his inclusion?

by the way, if we finish 2nd, people will say that we would have wont the group wiht andy reid playing, wait and see

spockety

Why should he have changed anything? We won the match!

ibh

Des wrote: »

One thing that struck me.

The defence and midfield at least tried to pass it around, and not just hoof it and hoping. Ireland had much better ball retention last night, among the defence, than I've seen for a long time. This leads to a more patient build up, trying to pass to feet and get moves going in a proper manner.

Now, there was also a LOT of punting the ball to Doyle (who was absolutely immense with his ball winning, I don't think he was beaten to any more than 10% of balls played to his head or chestal area).

Is that a real word???

Didn't see the game cause i was flying at the time but heard it was an unconvincing performance with an acceptable result. I won't be getting too excited about beating Cyprus at home. I don't give a fcuk how underrated they have been in the past few years, if you can't beat them at home, then forget about it..
I personally think Trapp is playing a dangerous game in some respects. I like the fact that he is imposing a patient passing game on the players, but i do think that a MF of Whelan and Gibson is leaving you open to a stuffing from somebody if a few other big players don't perform.(Dunne, Given etc)
I hope that now he has set his desired structure in place in the way we play, he may allow some more creativity in the coming games.

spockety

event wrote: »

well yeah, he'd better than those two players, but they are different styles. i think trap has decided on a system and will put the correct type of players in their positions. it is not time to judge him now (even though we have 7 from 9) but at teh end of the campaign, to see how it goes. and while gibson wasnt great, it was his debut so people shouldnt write him off yet.
i think if a change was to be made it should have been joey o brien in the midfield, he could have made a difference. Why has there not been a clamour for his inclusion?

by the way, if we finish 2nd, people will say that we would have wont the group wiht andy reid playing, wait and see

I wonder what those same people would say if they were offered 2nd in the group on the day Staunton left...?

estebancambias

ah those irish they never get going 'till the actual tournament starts.


We are 4 points ahead of Bulgaria and 2 ahead of them based on the results against Montenegro and Georgia. Times are good.

BaZmO*

MOG7 wrote: »

In fairness event alot of what you said is right, we're not trying to say Reid is Pele, we are simply pointing out that Reid is about 10 times better than Gibson and Whealan, and i think after watching last night game anyone would be a fool to disagree. He is obviously a different style of player but surely Trap should have changed things a little other than play those 2 in the centre.

Better at doing different things, i.e. passing the ball, but at the end of the day Trap's choice has been vindicated because we got the win.

I was at the match last night and it was certainly frustrating watching Whelan and Gibson play because they never really created anything but I don't think that's why they were there. They were there to shore up the defence and to stop Cyprus attacking which in fairness they did.

It would be great to see Ireland play fluid attacking football all the time but lets not get all Newcastle on this, I'm happy with getting the results and at least looking like we have a cohesive plan each time we play, and so far so good since Trap took over.

Hank Scorpio

spockety wrote: »

I wonder what those same people would say if they were offered 2nd in the group on the day Staunton left...?

There was not big different last night compared to some of stauntons games.
Work rate was higher but we could have easily drawn last night.

massive plus was kevin doyles performance.
He is deffo premiership quality
Without Dunne our defence is a shambles!

zAbbo

MOG7 wrote: »

In fairness event alot of what you said is right, we're not trying to say Reid is Pele, we are simply pointing out that Reid is about 10 times better than Gibson and Whealan, and i think after watching last night game anyone would be a fool to disagree. He is obviously a different style of player but surely Trap should have changed things a little other than play those 2 in the centre.

Andy Reid is not 10 times better than Whelen or Gibson at playing a holding CM role.

Why should Trap have changed his game plan to accommodate Reid when we were 1-0 and Cyprus didn't look to create anything through the centre, a few balls over the top which Dunne could eat up all day long.

The only time they looked dangerous is when we played it loose and lost it down the flanks, and their full backs tried to overlap, but Duff and McGeady were very impressive with tracking back.

Gibson and Whelen may not have got on the ball as much as we'd like a CM pairing to do, but with their limited ability and experience - they kept things relatively quiet through the middle, something which I doubt Andy Reid has the work rate and discipline to achieve.

Dolph Starbeam

BaZmO* wrote: »

Better at doing different things, i.e. passing the ball, but at the end of the day Trap's choice has been vindicated because we got the win.

I was at the match last night and it was certainly frustrating watching Whelan and Gibson play because they never really created anything but I don't think that's why they were there. They were there to shore up the defence and to stop Cyprus attacking which in fairness they did.

It would be great to see Ireland play fluid attacking football all the time but lets not get all Newcastle on this, I'm happy with getting the results and at least looking like we have a cohesive plan each time we play, and so far so good since Trap took over.

Ye fair point, you were at the game, you could see what them 2 were doing off the ball, it didn't look good watching t on the tv. They were nowhere. I like the way Trap even plays 2 holding players but i just think he should have hanged things when the only 2 holding players we had were Gibson and Whealan. We got the result and Bulgaria only drew so happy days i guess:)

JimiTime

CiaranC wrote: »

I stopped reading right there, what game were you watching?

England V Belarus. Oh hang on.....:) I know the game was shocking. I know Ireland never dominated etc. BUT, you can't deny how organised we were as a unit. If you had read on, you would see that I said set pieces etc were squandered at an alarming rate, but one thing seems clear; We are going to be a tough team to break down due to our organisation. I personally don't like our set up. Its too conservative. I like to see a team who can take a game by the scruff. However, while our midfield offered nothing in attack, I think their defensive value has been overlooked. I can see our negative game being our undoing, but thats just a hunch. Teams like Italy or Bulgaria have top quality attackers, (Imagine martin Petrov against McShane, Shudder), and are likely to get a goal. Its when we need to get goals, what will Trap do? I can't see us get beaten under Trap by more than 1 goal(providing our top players stay fit), but its his response to going behind that will be telling.

monkey9

In a great position to qualify at the moment, Trappatoni is doing the job he was brought in to do.

A frustration night all round. Most of the players did well, Given, Dunne & O' Shea, McGeady, Duff, Keane and Doyle all played well.
As has been well documented, the centre midfield were non existent. Gibson and Whelan didn't play bad, they just weren't in the game at all to play bad.
Thank God we got that early goal. We were pushing up in the first half with McShane getting up the flanks, providing support for Duff. Unfortunately, he couldn't beat the first man whenever he tried to cross, but hey, at least it kept him away from our own box!!
The second half was terrible. The Cypriots were attacking more as you'd expect being one down, but why we didn't bring on Reid to get on the ball and pass it around, i don't know. Gibson didn't do a thing so it would have been an improvement. The second half was crying out for someone in midfield to take a hold of the game and dictate things
It was amazing to look at this match and see the whole midfield completely by-passed. There was almost like an oval shape to proceedings where everything was going down the flanks.
It was really in the last five minutes where things really opened up. They should have scored, but we had plenty of chances as well.
Dunne & O' Shea look a solid pairing at the back, Duff played like the way we remember him, McGeady was more interested in trying to beat the same man three or four times than actually putting a cross in. I think he was just having his own little match. That bloke seriously needs some end product in his game. Keane did well closing down, but Doyle without doubt was Man of the Match. Je$us, he was everywhere. The centre midfield could have taken lessons from him
If were playing Italy or Bulgaria with that team last night and that performance, then we wouldn't have won. We were lucky it was only Cyprus. But the fact is that it WAS Cyprus and it was Cyprus who Trappatoni was preparing for.
If we win our next two home games, we'll be ten points ahead of Bulgaria. Sure, they'll have a game in hand and we'll have to play Italy twice, but would much rather have points on the board.
Not that good a performance, but i believe we can improve and with seven points out of nine after three games with two of them being away, what is not in doubt is the brilliant position we're in at the moment in terms of at least getting a play off position, something we'd have been happy with going into the New Year

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monkey9 wrote: »

McGeady was more interested in trying to beat the same man three or four times than actually putting a cross in.

This is a major, major problem in McGeady's game. I don't watch Celtic, ever, so I don't know if he does it in the SPL or not, but the amount of times he turned back on himself to beat the same man again was shocking.

Or, there were other times when he received a ball in a decent crossing position, and he just tried to beat the man instead. There was no need for it.

Although, the quality of the crossing he did eventually get to do was terrible anyway, he probably just lost confidence in his ability to deliver, and just decided to wait until support showed, get a pass away and allow whoever else was there to stick in the cross.

The fact that McShambles was his full back seems to have been missed by him though.

JimiTime

monkey9 wrote: »

Dunne & O' Shea look a solid pairing at the back

Indeed they do, and deserve credit for their performances. However, to be fair to Trap, I think his CM system is really benefitting them by not leaving them exposed too much. Again though, it is at the expense of our posession play and craft in midfield. But its not without its value. In saying that I'm still on Andy Reids side, but I see the value of Traps system. I only hope that it really is for football reasons that reid is out of the team, and not some bust up/personal thing. I also think Reid at Sunderland chases back and puts the tackles in. But hey ho.. 7 points, happy days for now.

monkey9

JimiTime wrote: »

Indeed they do, and deserve credit for their performances. However, to be fair to Trap, I think his CM system is really benefitting them by not leaving them exposed too much. Again though, it is at the expense of our posession play and craft in midfield. But its not without its value. In saying that I'm still on Andy Reids side, but I see the value of Traps system. I only hope that it really is for football reasons that reid is out of the team, and not some bust up/personal thing. I also think Reid at Sunderland chases back and puts the tackles in. But hey ho.. 7 points, happy days for now.

Yeah, Trap definately has his system and own ideas of how he wants to play and Reid obviously doesn't fit into that. Fair enough, i'm glad Trappatoni is Irelands manager and go along with what he decides if it means qualification. It's just that, last night in the second half, i just felt bringing Reid on would have allowed us more of the ball. But we won, three points is the main thing!

noodler

Everyone can be happy with the look of the table but I can't believe how lenient people are being about that performance.

The second half was a complete shambles IMO. I would go as far as to say it wasn't that different (2nd half) from the same fixture under Stan.

We are going nowhere with that midfield-he can have a system all he want and he can argue playing Reid would mean too many offensive players but as we saw last night having two reserve team players in the centre of midfield simply invites pressure-nevermind the fact they could contribute practically nothing in terms of attacking play.

By my count the Cypriots had just as many chances as we did. They deserved a point-we got lucky.

Another thing-O'Shea looked far from solid to me (he did in the first two games-no doubt). He has to learn to head a ball forward and not backwards or straight up in the air.

If it weren't for outstanding performances by Given, Dunne and Doyle we would have lost.

Despite saying all that, the Cypriots are looking more impressive everyday.

Boggles

If Traps wants to turn Ireland into a Greece like team, he has to get some basics right. e.g taking a corner, I laughed last night when Mcgeady under the guise of taking a corner passed the ball to their right back. When he went to do it the 3rd time, Duff walked over and took the ball of him, making him look a right tit.

Charlie

Boggles wrote: »

If Traps wants to turn Ireland into a Greece like team, he has to get some basics right. e.g taking a corner, I laughed last night when Mcgeady under the guise of taking a corner passed the ball to their right back. When he went to do it the 3rd time, Duff walked over and took the ball of him, making him look a right tit.

This is my biggest pet peeve of pro footballers. Gerrard is guilty of it, Geremi is guilty of it , and by heck, McGeady is certainly guilty of it.

I cannot for the life of me understand footballers who consistently can't beat the 1st man on a corner. It is such a waste, and with the pace that is in football these days, it can seriously cost you against a team that counters well.

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charlie mchugh wrote: »

This is my biggest pet peeve of pro footballers. Gerrard is guilty of it, Geremi is guilty of it , and by heck, McGeady is certainly guilty of it.

I cannot for the life of me understand footballers who consistently can't beat the 1st man on a corner. It is such a waste, and with the pace that is in football these days, it can seriously cost you against a team that counters well.

I'd fine a player who is paid that much money and can't do a basic thing like beating the first man at a corner.

It's stupidly terrible.

Some people on here defend it though.